Job · 16 verses
Job 17
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Job gives decay a family tree: corruption is his father, and the worm is his mother—or, with a grim little widening of the household, his sister.
A pledge in the darkvv. 1–7
Job begins with the spirit broken, the days gone out, and the grave waiting at the door. Mockers surround him, while his eyes are made to watch their rebellion. He asks God for the pledge demanded, since nobody else will stand as guarantor. His condition has become public entertainment of the spit-in-the-face variety, and grief has reduced his body to a shadow.
The wise men return to the scenevv. 8–12
The upright are appalled, and the innocent are stirred against the godless. Yet the righteous one keeps to his way, and clean hands grow stronger. Job then invites the others to have another attempt, only to announce that wisdom will still be absent from the company. Meanwhile, night and day have been rearranged, with light made to look near while darkness remains entirely on hand.
The household belowvv. 13–16
Job's plans and heart's desires have already broken off, so he considers Sheol as home and darkness as a bed. There the family arrangements become especially unusual: corruption receives the title of father, while the worm is given motherly or sisterly standing. Hope is asked where it might be found, then invited to descend with him to the gates of Sheol and into the dust.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Job 17:1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
Job 17:2Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
Job 17:3Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
Job 17:4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
Job 17:5If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
Job 17:6He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
Job 17:7My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
Job 17:8The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
Job 17:9Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
Job 17:10But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
Job 17:11My days have passed; my plans are broken off—even the desires of my heart.
Job 17:12They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
Job 17:13If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
Job 17:14and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
Job 17:15where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
Job 17:16Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 140 passages were voted onto 16 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 9Proverbs 4:18The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- 9Isaiah 1:15–16When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
- 9Job 22:30He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”
- 4Matthew 11:25At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
- 9Psalms 84:7They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion.
- 92 Corinthians 12:9–10But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- 9Proverbs 14:16A wise man fears and turns from evil, but a fool is careless and reckless.
- 11Job 7:6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
- 1Isaiah 38:10–14I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.”
- 4Matthew 13:11He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
- 5Psalms 12:2–3They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
- 6Job 30:9And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
- 6Psalms 44:14You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
- 9Genesis 20:5Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”
- 9Isaiah 40:29–31He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
- 1Psalms 88:3–5For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
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